The impact of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will be enormous and wide-reaching in Arkansas. Our higher poverty rates mean cuts to health care coverage and food assistance will sharply increase hardship across the state.

The legislation, which became law on July 4, slashes funding for Medicaid and food assistance, raising the cost of groceries and health care for tens of thousands of Arkansans. It permanently extends big tax cuts for families with higher incomes while doing next to nothing for families who already struggle to make ends meet.

A new analysis indicates that 131,000 Arkansans will lose their health insurance coverage as a result of the new law over the next decade, while another 57,000 will be at risk of losing coverage. The analysis estimates that 25,000 will lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Close to 200,000 Arkansans will be at risk of losing their health care coverage, their food assistance, or both. However, these same community members will not receive the substantial tax savings some lawmakers have touted that this law will provide. For example, households making less than $24,600 a year will see an extension of existing tax cuts of about $40 per year on average. Meanwhile, a much smaller number in the state will see enormous tax benefits. About 12,000 households – those that make $668,900 or more each year – will see existing tax cuts extended by more than $48,000 annually on average.

Meanwhile, huge increases in costs at the state level could limit choices in the types of Medicaid services Arkansas can offer and put at risk the future of the SNAP program. For example, Arkansas will have to come up with an extra $23 million about a year from now to administer the SNAP program – even while fewer people have access to SNAP benefits. A year after that, the state could be saddled with an extra $55 million or more, in addition to the extra $23 million annually, to keep the program going. For the first time in the history of the SNAP program, the federal government will require states to pay a share of the cost of benefits to families. This is an existential threat to SNAP in Arkansas – a direct result of an unfunded mandate in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

In addition to new costs at the state level, new requirements will change eligibility rules for people with Medicaid and SNAP. Those eligibility changes will roll out over a number of years, beginning this fall and continuing through 2028. But even though these changes have been signed into law, there will be opportunities to advocate for better state policies along the way. For example, Arkansas government officials will be making decisions over the next few months that will determine how the state implements harsher work reporting requirements in SNAP. Over the next year, the same will be true in Medicaid. These are chances for Arkansans to make their voices heard, leaning on elected officials to make state-level changes as consumer-friendly as possible.

For information about how these changes could have an impact in your local community, check out AACF’s series of county-level maps here. More information on the impact of the new law is available at this link.

Here is a timeline of how we expect the changes to roll out:

Fall 2025 – exact timeframe for implementation is uncertain

• Many lawful immigrants lose access to SNAP, including refugees, asylees, people who’ve been granted humanitarian protections to stay in the United States, certain victims of domestic violence or sex and labor trafficking. This will impact about 1,000 people in Arkansas. This does not apply to Compact of Free Association migrants, or COFA citizens, including Marshallese Arkansans. They will still be eligible for SNAP.
• An expansion of SNAP’s already harsh time limits and work requirements will go into place. Whereas before, parents raising children were granted exemptions, now parents of children 14 and up will no longer be exempt. Adults aged 55 to 64, who are currently exempt as well, will have to meet the requirements.
• Veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young people who’ve aged out of foster care will no longer be exempt from the time limits and work requirements. Along with the requirements for parents and older people described above, an estimated 25,000 Arkansans will lose SNAP benefits when these are fully in place.

January 2026

• Health insurance Marketplace plans will become much more expensive to consumers. This is because the One Big Beautiful Bill Act did not extend enhanced premium tax credits that made this type of insurance more affordable, even though the legislation extended trillions of dollars in other tax breaks.
• Marketplace tax credits will no longer be available to many lawful immigrants whose incomes are higher than the poverty level. This does not apply to COFA citizens, including Marshallese Arkansans. They can keep these tax credits.

October 2026

• The administrative cost for Arkansas to operate the SNAP program will increase $23 million, or 50%, to an estimated total of $68 million. Anti-hunger advocates will need to ensure that state legislators set aside this funding in the state budget to keep the SNAP program operating at its current level.
• Many lawfully present immigrants will no longer be eligible for Medicaid and ARKids First, regardless of how long they’ve lived here. Once again, this does not apply to COFA citizens, including Marshallese Arkansans. They will still be eligible for Medicaid and ARKids First.

January 2027

• Medicaid “community engagement” rules, or work reporting requirements, go into effect nationally. Arkansas is likely to implement requirements sooner, however, as the state has an already pending request to put similar rules into place.
• Redeterminations in Medicaid will be required to take place more often. Instead of sharing income and other eligibility information once a year to maintain coverage, people with Medicaid will have to do that every 6 months.
• The retroactive period for Medicaid coverage to pay for health services will go from 90 days to 30 days. This means that, for people who newly become eligible for Medicaid, their previous medical costs will be paid for only about a month before they signed up, instead of expenses being paid going back 3 months, as is currently the case.
• Many lawfully present immigrants will no longer qualify for premium tax credits to help them afford coverage on the health insurance Marketplace. This does not apply to COFA citizens, including Marshallese Arkansans. They will still be eligible for the tax credits.

October 2027

• Arkansas will owe a share of the cost of SNAP benefits for the first time in the history of the program. The amount will depend on the state program’s “error rate,” but if this requirement were in place today, the state would owe $55 million to keep the program going. Because SNAP is an optional program, the state could drop the program altogether, so advocates will need to ensure that this is a priority in the state budget.

October 2028

• People with Medicaid expansion coverage (low-income adults 19-64) could be required to pay out-of-pocket costs for each health service they receive. The costs could be as high as $35 per service, a big financial hit for those whose incomes are low enough to quality for Medicaid. This will be a state-level decision, so advocates will need to make the argument against imposing these fees, or at least in favor of keeping them very low.

December 2028

• Newly established temporary tax provisions, including those on tips, overtime and those for senior citizens, expire. Meanwhile, tax cuts for higher-income families and corporations are permanent.